The Christmas Gift
by iwantausername
Summary: Three months without him and Luke gets a surprise he never would have dreamed of.


**So, I started this after watching the finale of "As the World Turns". I was crying the whole time, and got inspired to write so I have like ten other little stories like this, both Reid being alive and him being dead so slowly, I will be uploading them for you all. I hope you like this one, its sort of sad and happy at the same time. Enjoy and please please please review. Thanks for reading.**

**This was formally known as "The Letter" before changed to "The Christmas Gift", thank you. Enjoy.  
**

It had only been three months since the passing of Reid Oliver and Luke was still having troubles dealing with it all. He was still living at home with his parents, who had again gotten back together and his younger siblings. He was still working on his foundation, running the Grimaldi shipping company and working with a new doctor on the neurology wing at Memorial. He acted fine while around other people so they would stop bugging him and asking him if he was okay or how he was doing. But when alone, he would dwell in his grief. Tempted more then once a day to drink, just to get rid of the pain, but he never did. He knew better.

Whenever he even looked at a bottle of alcohol, he could hear Reid's voice in his head saying; _'You better take care of that kidney of yours, because if I'm going to put myself out that, fall in love with you, I am not going to lose you_.' Of course, Luke would laugh and think, '_But I lost you_.' and then walk away from temptation. Over time, he has tried hard to let go of his grief for missing Reid, knowing he needed to, to be able to move on. He talked to Noah, who was now in Los Angeles, over the phone from time to time. They never talked about Reid or work, just about everyday things.

It had taken him a little over a month to even visit Chris, who had Reid's heart. He was just not ready to face the man who had taken the heart of the one he loved, so he could live. Yeah, he had allowed it, having the power of attorney for Reid after his death, he just couldn't handle it right away. It was now a week before Christmas and Luke was home alone, refusing to go with the rest of his family to go gift shopping and pick out a Christmas tree for the house. The rest of the house was already decorated in festive green and red.

It was warm in the house, but Luke was wearing jeans and a sweater that was a size to big for Luke after losing weight for not eating well over the months. Under the sweater, he wore one of Reid's many button up shirts. After his death, Katie had given Luke all of Reid's things he had in Oakdale. He even had his stethoscope, which Luke had hanging up on his wall in his bedroom. Luke seemed to wear more of Reid's shirts than his own now, trying to remember everything he could about the older man he had fallen for, after months of hating him.

Now, Luke was sitting on the couch, snuggled down deep, his feet crossed on the coffee table and his arms folded over his chest and a pillow from the couch. Everything was silent in the house, something Luke came to love these past few months. He was able to not be bothered and could just remember. Remember Reid's features. Remember Reid's arrogant but loving personality.

Remember Reid's soft lips on his and his hands around his neck. Just, remember Reid. Sitting there with his eyes closed, tears slowly making their way down his checks and onto his arms and the pillow, suddenly there was a knock at the door. Luke jumped when the silence was broken. Sitting up off the couch, he tossed the pillow to the side and stood, wiping away the tears as he made his way to the door and opened it. A short man with a thick yellow envelope in hand stood there.

"Luke Snyder?" the man asked, looking over his sunglasses to him.

Luke just nodded and the guy handed him the envelope before turning and leaving. Luke looked at it as he closed the door, hoping the chill that had made its way into the house from the open door would disappear quickly. Only his name and address was on the envelope, no return address. He turned the envelope over to open it as he sat back onto the couch. Sinking in like he had been before being interrupted by the door. He slowly opened the envelope and pulled out a smaller, white envelope.

On the front was just his name, in writing he had seen so many time on documents for the neurology wing. He froze, not wanting to take his eyes off the writing but finally doing so to open the envelope. He slowly pulled out the folded piece of paper, unfolding it and finding it was a letter, written in the same handwriting. Slowly, he started reading it, word for word.

_Luke,_

_You already know I am not good at all this sappy stuff. Katie had to help me with most of this. It's been about three months since I first kissed you back in Dallas that I am writing this. I don't know if we are together or if you are back with Noah but the day you showed me your old journals and your writing, I thought about it, with the help of Katie. Well, I made copies of some of you writing and again with Katie's help, sent them to someone I know in New York. In the envelope is a published book of many of your short stories and other writing. It was sent back just the other day and Katie helped me set it up so you would not get it until around Christmas, whether we were together or not. Anyway, this is my Christmas present to you, because I know how much you love to write, or loved to write. What I guess I'm trying to say is, you should start writing again. Maybe it would help with the things you are going through._

_Love, Reid_

Luke had tears running down his face, more then before and faster. Tears covered a lot of the short letter Reid had written for him after he had sat up on the couch when he had first started reading it. He wiped away some of his tears with the back of his hand, as he remembered when he had shown Reid his journals and writing. Luke had been sitting outside rummaging through all the boxes of notebooks and loose paper when Reid showed up. He allowed Reid to read some of then, not knowing he had even taken and copied some of it.

He turned to look at the yellow envelope sitting on the couch next to him. He sat the letter down on the table in front of him before turning back to the yellow envelope and picking it up. He pulled out a small book wrapped in Christmas wrapping paper. It was very neat and he knew Katie was probably the one to wrap it for Reid. Smiling and laughing a little as the tears started up again. He carefully unwrapped the book and looked at it, reading the cover.

The title wasn't anything while original, just; _A Collection of Short Stories_ and his name was at the bottom of the book in the same gold lettering and font as the title. He sat back into the couch once more and opened the book, skimming through it all to see which of his writings Reid had actually taken and got published into the book. As he flipped through the pages, a small folded piece of paper fell into his lap. He picked it up and opened it, finding it had more of Reid's handwriting. He quickly read the little note.

_This one is my favorite._

Luke looked at the story that the note had been with and smiled. It was one of his very first writings when he was a lot younger, only in about the third grade. It was something he did for a project about his favorite family memory and he had picked when his family had gone to Kentucky and Luke had gotten his first pony, that was truly his own. He was truly smiling while reading the old story, remembering it detail by detail when the door opened. He looked up to see his parents, Faith, Natalie and Ethan walking in, all caring bags and boxes of gifts. He stayed where he was on the couch, forgetting that he was crying just minutes before. His mother looked at him, a frown on her face.

"Sweetie, your eyes are all red, have you been crying?" she asked, sitting down on the couch next to him.

Luke really wanted to be alone still but he knew now that his parents and younger siblings were home, there was going to be no chance of that. Instead of saying something, he sat up and grabbed the letter Reid had written and handed it to his mother, who decided to read it out loud. Holden stood behind the couch while Ethan and Natalie curled up on the other side of the couch next to Luke and Faith sat in one of the chairs. When Lily had finished reading, she looked up at Luke, tears in her own eyes. Luke was crying again. Lily quickly pulled Luke into a hug and after letting him go, he handed her the book, which in turn was passed around from person to person until it was in Luke's hands once again.

Later that day, Luke found himself outside Katie's apartment, the book and letter in hand. He knew why he was there, but had been standing there for a good ten minutes, not knocking on the door. He was about to decide to turn and leave when Chris came walking up, Jacob in his arms. Luke slightly smiled at the sight of them. Chris was looking good and seemed to be doing just as well. But it still hurt Luke to know Chris had Reid's heart.

"Luke, what brings you around?"

"I wanted to talk to Katie."

"Is she not answering?"

"No, I never knocked."

Chris just nodded and went to the door, opening it and walking in before turning to Luke, who slowly followed him. Katie was in the kitchen, a good smell of cooking food coming from the stove and oven. She turned around to see the two men and her little angel of a child. She smiled, walking over to Chris and kissing him before turning to Luke, an even bigger smile on her face. She pulled him into a hug.

"Luke, its good to see you." she said, "Will you stay for dinner?"

"Uh, no. Grandmother is expecting me for dinner tonight. She and John will be leaving town for Christmas so we're having a small family dinner tonight before they do." Luke replied, "I'm actually here to thank you."

"Oh, for what?"

Luke held up the letter and book.

"Luke, that was all Reid." she told him, "I just helped him in the being secretively romantic department."

Luke laughed lightly, "But you still helped, so thank you."

"I would do it again." she said, hugging him once again.

After staying to talk for a minute, Luke said goodbye to the them and headed for his grandmothers. No matter where he went after that, he had the letter from Reid in his pocket and the book in his bag. He never left home without them, a remind of something great he had, no matter how short it really was.


End file.
